Pennsylvania school district arms teachers with miniature baseball bats

[Euler]

CNN

After the shooting in Parkland, Florida, a school district in suburban Erie, Pennsylvania, began formulating a school safety plan. Among its measures: handing out miniature wooden baseball bats to all 500 of its teachers.

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On social media, however, the idea is being roundly mocked.

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Millcreek Township schools issued the new security plan on April 2, along with training for staffers on how to respond to an active shooter situation. The plan is called T.R.O.J.A.N., which stands for "threat assessment, run, obstruct and barricade, join forces, attack, and never give up."

 

But all anyone seems to be talking about is the bats.

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After a flurry of media coverage, Hall posted an updated message Thursday in which he explained the bats were mostly intended to be symbolic -- a reminder that in the event of a shooting, teachers might have to fight.

 

"They were distributed to our teaching staff as a symbolic reminder of the district's change in its current response from shelter in place (hide) to now include the options of running and/or fighting back," he said.

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IMO this is a good thing that was handled badly. Around the country most schools have turned Run/Hide/Fight into Hide and Die. Whereas Hide is supposed to mean putting locked barriers (like classroom doors) between yourself and a shooter, in Parkland students were taught to cram into schoolroom closets, which is the opposite of sensible. Millcreek is at least trying to change minds to put the Run and Fight parts back into Run/Hide/Fight.

[tkroenlein]

That's illegal here.

 

(720 ILCS 5/24-1) (from Ch. 38, par. 24-1)

Sec. 24-1. Unlawful use of weapons.

(a) A person commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons when he knowingly:

(1) Sells, manufactures, purchases, possesses or Carries any bludgeon, black-jack, slung-shot, sand-club, sand-bag, metal knuckles or other knuckle weapon regardless of its composition, throwing star, or any knife, commonly referred to as a switchblade knife, which has a blade that opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in the handle of the knife, or a ballistic knife, which is a device that propels a knifelike blade as a projectile by means of a coil spring, elastic material or compressed gas; or

 

[biggun 1]

so we have students armed with rocks at one school and now another school giving miniature baseball bats to the teachers.the people who come up with these idiotic ideas must not know that you don,t bring knives,rocks or miniature baseball bats to a gun fight.heaven forbid they arm the teachers so they and the students have a fighting chance.

[BigJim]

I wonder how many teachers will run into the gun fire to get close enough to the shooter to use the bat. There really is no need to spend money on bats. The teachers already have plenty of weapons they can use against a shooter, book bindings.

[Bitter Clinger]

So the mini bats are just meant to be "symbolic"? Seriously?
Just when you thought stupid could get any stupider.

If they're gonna use bats, at least do it right.

http://www.dreadcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Lucille-Baseball-Bat-Walking-Dead-01.jpg

[sdf4]

You just beat me to baby lucille!

[gearsmithy]

symbolic or not, I think someone needs to read more Grossman. Do they have any idea of the level of brutality and aggressiveness it takes to cave someone's head in with a blunt object? have they even considered the psychological casualties that will result from a child witnessing violence of that magnitude? how are teachers who aren't responsible enough to carry expected to be responsible enough to train day-in and day-out with a mini bat? oh that's right, we can't expect leftists to live in the real world, they think people will act just like they do in the movies and 'rise to the occasion'.

 

smh

[cybermgk]

I wonder how many teachers will run into the gun fire to get close enough to the shooter to use the bat. There really is no need to spend money on bats. The teachers already have plenty of weapons they can use against a shooter, book bindings.

Or make paper airplanes out of the GFZ signs and hope for an eye.

[cybermgk]

symbolic or not, I think someone needs to read more Grossman. Do they have any idea of the level of brutality and aggressiveness it takes to cave someone's head in with a blunt object? have they even considered the psychological casualties that will result from a child witnessing violence of that magnitude? how are teachers who aren't responsible enough to carry expected to be responsible enough to train day-in and day-out with a mini bat? oh that's right, we can't expect leftists to live in the real world, they think people will act just like they do in the movies and 'rise to the occasion'.

 

smh

Or have the bravery. ACTUAL armed folks balk sometimes (Broward Deputies you know who you are)..